Score for the wardrobe!!!!

So, I have been blogging a lot of the food recipes that I have repinned and I really wanted to do something different. This time I decided on my "Wardrobe" pinterest board was going to be attacked. As I repin the great wardrobe pins, I sit and wish my closet looked like my board. It would make my fashion needs easier. Plus to be able to afford much of these pins I have repinned with envy, made me want to find ways to get them without breaking my bank. I had my mission.

I went through my pins and found an outfit that I figured I could easily replicate. I printed it out and gathered my poor son on this mission. Do I think he would help me out; uh, No! He is 18 cares less and hates me dragging him along for the ride but with bribery for lunch he was on his way, trapped. I just wanted another body hanging out with me whether he vanished in the store or not. Of course he vanished to the bathroom and I am sure just hanging out on his phone to avoid most of the shopping torture I was about to put him on. I think it's an adventure, he thinks it is Chinese torture. Most guys would rather have their nails pulled out one by one, slowly, than shop with us women and my son is no exception.

Ok: I went off track there for a moment, back to the outfit. As I said before, I did not want to break the bank. Now, we have great low budget stores around town like Ross, Marshall's, and TJ Max, amongst others and I love them all. Who doesn't? But I really wanted to go as cheap as I could. Here is the surprise, I went to my local Goodwill store. Yes, a thrift store. Why not? You can find some pretty nice things there and what you buy goes towards their cause. Now, I will go through my closet and get rid of a bag full of clothes that I don't use every year or two that heads straight to them and then I turn around and shop there. Hee hee. I just need to make sure I don't pick up something that was mine in the first place. Wouldn't that be a hoot!! Anyways, my mission was laid out in front of me and I knew I may not find everything I wanted at the thrift store, that I might have to shop at my other stores of choice but I was going to try my best. I succeeded!!!! Here is the picture I had went by from the pin that I created my outfit.

Cute isn't it?? Now what I started out with was my own closet. I have jeans similar to these but not as straight legged. That's not a big deal. I have jewelry as well and I was not going to get the sunglasses. I have one pair that I wear all the time and I don't need to add more of those to another collection of stuff to my wardrobe as I may not wear them anyways. I do have a brown belt and other cute shoes that would make this outfit come together. This was a great start to my mission and can be your great start as well. Look in your own closet first before heading out the door.

Now, I printed this picture out to guide me through the process of finding what I needed. Once I got to the store, I knew I was not going to find the exact pieces I needed and I knew to look for the style. I started perusing the racks of tops, blazers (and let me tell you, thrift store blazers are old school boxy looking things) and even jeans just for giggles. First thing I found was the blazer (shocking considering my choices), then to the tops. I looked for a white one and no luck, so I kept looking and found a blouse that had the same shape as the one above. I moved to the purses and looked at the many choices I had, trying to keep with the look at the one above. I could go black or I could find something in the similar color. Well, color ones had few choices and then I see it, tan with black and a shape close to the one above. (oh and I will definitely use it often) Then against my own heebie jeebies, I wandered to the shoes. Yes I said it, "the shoes" in a thrift store. It usually grosses me out but I looked anyways. I figured I could swing by one of the other stores I mentioned above to find some cheap shoes that would come close to these but hey, why not look here at the thrift store first. I wandered up and down the racks and then "bam", a pair of shoes that would go well with the outfit I am creating. These shoes have never been worn and probably only tried on in the original store they were purchased. The soles were clean with no wear or tear and the insides had no impressions of feet ever being in them. They were my size and I can wipe the insides out with a Clorox wipe. That sound good to me. I pick them up and add them to my arm full of goodies. Standing in line at the check out,(which had a lot of people in line, I had time to run my eyes over the ends of the racks) I see a belt. I hand off my pile to my son as he stood there, clothes with purse in hand as I ran to grab it. Ah, it will fit, perfect. Ta-da I am done. I didn't need the belt but I love and will us them all the time. They are kind of like earrings to me, they add to any outfit.
Now for the tally of the clothes:
Blazer: $4.99
Blouse: $3.99
Purse: $4.99
Shoes: $9.99
Belt: $1.99
Equaling out to............$25.95
Yeah, that is a purchase!! I did it with a really small budget and actually not long time shopping either. I was in the store maybe 40 minutes because I had my handy-dandy print out of what I was looking for and this made it so much easier to shop.

Now for the reveal:

Like I said I had the jeans already. I don't skimp on my jeans and they are expensive but they last forever and fit me well. I had the jewelry and the hat but the rest is what I found at the thrift store. The blazer was a great find and so were the shoes and purse. I kept in my head to not look for exactly what was in the picture but to look for the style and start in my closet first. This was super fun and did not take a crazy day of shopping, plus keeping me on track with my purchase with having a picture in hand. This way I was not just aimlessly wandering the stores and their racks and getting random things when you get home don't create much for outfits. I can use each piece in other outfits and mix and match in my own wardrobe. I call this a SCORE!!!

To create your own visual wardrobe go to:
how2getthelook.polyvore.com
You can create the outfits like the first picture above, print it and head out the door with ammo. Be creative and keep in mind, you don't have to be exact just try to keep the style of the look.